Finance Minister Ernie Steeves speaks to reporters before delivering his government's 2019-20 budget on March 19, 2019. (Submitted/Government of New Brunswick)
CUPE union workers are unimpressed with the Tory’s provincial budget, citing job slashes, budget cuts and no real wage increases.
Daniel Légère, President of CUPE NB says the public sector has been neglected for decades, and this year’s budget is no different.
“We’ve been asked repeatedly to do our part and tighten our belts. We’ve done that for a decade, we just can’t sustain this anymore,” he said in an interview.
During his budget speech, Finance Minister Ernie Steeves said the average personal debt in New Brunswick is $40,000.
Légère says this is because workers wages aren’t keeping up with the rising cost of living.
He says there is no more room to cut jobs or balance the budget on the backs of public sector workers.
“You just can’t keep back going back to that well, which is the public sector, to find efficiency or pay the price for bad political decisions,” he said.
He says public services in New Brunswick are in a crisis, citing the challenge nursing home workers have faced over the past weeks to get fair wages.
